Vacuum jacket for phase change memory element

ABSTRACT

A memory device including a phase change element and a vacuum jacket. The device includes a first electrode element; a phase change element in contact with the first electrode element; an upper electrode element in contact with the phase change element; a bit line electrode in contact with the upper electrode element; and a dielectric fill layer surrounding the phase change element and the upper electrode element, spaced from the same and sealed by the bit line electrode to define a vacuum jacket around the phase change element and upper electrode element.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/738,956, entitled “Vacuum Jacket for Phase ChangeMemory Element” filed on Nov. 21, 2005. That application is incorporatedby reference for all purposes.

PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

International Business Machines Corporation, a New York corporation;Macronix International Corporation, Ltd., a Taiwan corporation; andInfineon Technologies AG, a German corporation, are parties to a JointResearch Agreement.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is generally related to the field of non-volatilememory devices, and more particularly to the field of memory devicesthat employ phase change materials.

2. Description of Related Art

Phase change based memory materials are widely used in read-writeoptical disks, and such materials are seeing increasing use in computermemory devices. These materials have at least two solid phases,including, for example, a generally amorphous solid phase and agenerally crystalline solid phase. Laser pulses are used in read-writeoptical disks to switch between phases and to read the opticalproperties of the material after the phase change, and electrical pulsesare employed in the same manner in computer memory devices.

Phase change based memory materials, like chalcogenide based materialsand similar materials, also can be caused to change phase by applicationof electrical current at levels suitable for implementation inintegrated circuits. The generally amorphous state is characterized byhigher resistivity than the generally crystalline state, which can bereadily sensed to indicate data. These properties have generatedinterest in using programmable resistive material to form nonvolatilememory circuits, which can be read and written with random access.

The change from the amorphous to the crystalline state is generally alower current operation. The change from crystalline to amorphous,referred to as reset herein, is generally a higher current operation,which includes a short high current density pulse to melt or breakdownthe crystalline structure, after which the phase change material coolsquickly, quenching the phase change process, allowing at least a portionof the phase change structure to stabilize in the amorphous state. It isdesirable to minimize the magnitude of the reset current used to causetransition of phase change material from crystalline state to amorphousstate. The magnitude of the reset current needed for reset can bereduced by reducing the size of the phase change material element in thecell and of the contact area between electrodes and the phase changematerial, so that higher current densities are achieved with smallabsolute current values through the phase change material element.

One direction of development has been toward forming small pores in anintegrated circuit structure, and using small quantities of programmableresistive material to fill the small pores. Patents illustratingdevelopment toward small pores include: Ovshinsky, “Multibit Single CellMemory Element Having Tapered Contact,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,112, issuedNov. 11, 1997; Zahorik et al., “Method of Making Chalogenide [sic]Memory Device,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,277, issued Aug. 4, 1998; Doan etal., “Controllable Ovonic Phase-Change Semiconductor Memory Device andMethods of Fabricating the Same,” U.S. Pat. No. 6,150,253, issued Nov.21, 2000, and Reinberg, “Chalcogenide Memory Cell with a Plurality ofChalcogenide Electrodes,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,788, issued Jul. 6, 1999.

A specific issue arising from conventional phase change memory andstructures is the heat sink effect of conventional designs. Generally,the prior art teaches the use of metallic electrodes on both sides ofthe phase change memory element, with electrodes of approximately thesame size as the phase change member. Such electrodes act as heat sinks,the high heat conductivity of the metal rapidly drawing heat away fromthe phase change material. Because the phase change occurs as a resultof heating, the heat sink effect results in a requirement for highercurrent, in order to effect the desired phase change.

One approach to the heat flow problem is seen in U.S. Pat. No.6,815,704, entitled “Self Aligned Air-Gap Thermal Insulation forNano-scale Insulated Chalcogenide Electronics (NICE) RAM”, in which anattempt is made to isolate the memory cell. That structure, and theattendant fabrication process, is overly complex, yet it does notpromote minimal current flow in the memory device.

It is desirable therefore to provide a memory cell structure havingsmall dimensions and low reset currents, as well as a structure thataddresses the heat conductivity problem, and a method for manufacturingsuch structure that meets tight process variation specifications neededfor large-scale memory devices. It is further desirable to provide amanufacturing process and a structure, which are compatible withmanufacturing of peripheral circuits on the same integrated circuit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the invention is a memory device including a phase changeelement and a vacuum jacket. The device includes a first electrodeelement; a phase change element in contact with the first electrodeelement; an upper electrode element in contact with the phase changeelement; a bit line electrode in contact with the upper electrodeelement; and a dielectric fill layer surrounding the phase changeelement and the upper electrode element, spaced from the same and sealedby the bit line electrode to define a vacuum jacket around the phasechange element and upper electrode element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view that illustrates an embodiment of aphase change memory element employing a vacuum jacket.

FIGS. 2 a-2 c illustrate alternate embodiments of a phase change memoryelement employing an air cell vacuum jacket.

FIGS. 3 a-3 k illustrate an embodiment of a process for fabricating aphase change memory element as shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following discussion describes embodiments of the invention withparticular reference to FIGS. 1-3. It will be understood that theexamples and features shown are exemplary and illustrative in nature andnot intended to limit the scope of the invention. That scope is definedsolely by the claims appended hereto.

The present invention concerns memory elements and memory cells. As usedherein, and as is well known in the art, a memory cell is a circuitdevice designed to hold a charge or state to indicate the logic level ofa single data bit. Memory cells are arrayed to provide, for example, therandom access memory for a computer. Within certain memory cells, amemory element performs the function of actually holding the charge orstate. In a conventional dynamic random access memory cell, for example,a capacitor indicates the logic level of the cell, with a fully chargedstate indicating a logic 1, or high, state, and fully dischargedindicating a logic 0, or low, state.

A memory element 10, an embodiment of the present invention, isillustrated generally in FIG. 1. As seen there, the memory element 10 isshown as a single unit, for purposes of clarity. In practice, eachelement is a part of a memory cell, which in turn is part of a largermemory array, as discussed more fully below. The structure of a memoryelement will be discussed first, followed by a description of theprocess for fabricating the same.

The memory element is formed on a substrate 12, which is preferably adielectric fill material such as silicon dioxide. Other suitablematerials include polyimide, silicon nitride or other dielectric fillmaterials known in the art. Extending through the substrate to makeelectrical contact with exterior circuitry (not shown) is a plug element14, preferably formed from a refractory metal such as tungsten. Othersuitable refractory metals include Ti, Mo, Al, Ta, Cu, Pt, Ir, La, Ni,and Ru. The plug element functions as an electrode, and can be referredto as the lower electrode element.

Extending upward from the plug element are a phase change element 20 andan upper electrode element 28. Above the upper electrode element is bitline 30, which in turn is in electrical contact with outside circuitry(not shown).

The phase change element 20 can be formed from a class of materialspreferably including chalcogenide based materials. Chalcogens includeany of the four elements oxygen (O), sulfur (S), selenium (Se), andtellurium (Te), forming part of group VI of the periodic table.Chalcogenides comprise compounds of a chalcogen with a moreelectropositive element or radical. Chalcogenide alloys comprisecombinations of chalcogenides with other materials such as transitionmetals. A chalcogenide alloy usually contains one or more elements fromcolumn six of the periodic table of elements, such as germanium (Ge) andtin (Sn). Often, chalcogenide alloys include combinations including oneor more of antimony (Sb), gallium (Ga), indium (In), and silver (Ag).Many phase change based memory materials have been described intechnical literature, including alloys of: Ga/Sb, In/Sb, In/Se, Sb/Te,Ge/Te, Ge/Sb/Te, In/Sb/Te, Ga/Se/Te, Sn/Sb/Te, In/Sb/Ge, Ag/In/Sb/Te,Ge/Sn/Sb/Te, Ge/Sb/Se/Te and Te/Ge/Sb/S. In the family of Ge/Sb/Tealloys, a wide range of alloy compositions may be workable. Thecompositions can be characterized as Te_(a)Ge_(b)Sb_(100−(a+b)). Oneresearcher has described the most useful alloys as having an averageconcentration of Te in the deposited materials well below 70%, typicallybelow about 60% and ranged in general from as low as about 23% up toabout 58% Te and most preferably about 48% to 58% Te. Concentrations ofGe were above about 5% and ranged from a low of about 8% to about 30%average in the material, remaining generally below 50%. Most preferably,concentrations of Ge ranged from about 8% to about 40%. The remainder ofthe principal constituent elements in this composition was Sb. Thesepercentages are atomic percentages that total 100% of the atoms of theconstituent elements. (Ovshinsky '112 patent, cols. 10-11.) Particularalloys evaluated by another researcher include Ge₂Sb₂Te₅, GeSb₂Te₄ andGeSb₄Te₇. (Noboru Yamada, “Potential of Ge—Sb—Te Phase-Change OpticalDisks for High-Data-Rate Recording”, SPIE v.3109, pp. 28-37 (1997).)More generally, a transition metal such as chromium (Cr), iron (Fe),nickel (Ni), niobium (Nb), palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt) and mixtures oralloys thereof may be combined with Ge/Sb/Te to form a phase changealloy that has programmable resistive properties. Specific examples ofmemory materials that may be useful are given in Ovshinsky '112 atcolumns 11-13, which examples are hereby incorporated by reference.

Phase change alloys are capable of being switched between a firststructural state in which the material is in a generally amorphous solidphase, and a second structural state in which the material is in agenerally crystalline solid phase in its local order in the activechannel region of the cell. These alloys are at least bistable. The termamorphous is used to refer to a relatively less ordered structure, moredisordered than a single crystal, which has the detectablecharacteristics such as higher electrical resistivity than thecrystalline phase. The term crystalline is used to refer to a relativelymore ordered structure, more ordered than in an amorphous structure,which has detectable characteristics such as lower electricalresistivity than the amorphous phase. Typically, phase change materialsmay be electrically switched between different detectable states oflocal order across the spectrum between completely amorphous andcompletely crystalline states. Other material characteristics affectedby the change between amorphous and crystalline phases include atomicorder, free electron density and activation energy. The material may beswitched either into different solid phases or into mixtures of two ormore solid phases, providing a gray scale between completely amorphousand completely crystalline states. The electrical properties in thematerial may vary accordingly.

Phase change alloys can be changed from one phase state to another byapplication of electrical pulses. It has been observed that a shorter,higher amplitude pulse tends to change the phase change material to agenerally amorphous state. A longer, lower amplitude pulse tends tochange the phase change material to a generally crystalline state. Theenergy in a shorter, higher amplitude pulse is high enough to allow forbonds of the crystalline structure to be broken and short enough toprevent the atoms from realigning into a crystalline state. Appropriateprofiles for pulses can be determined, without undue experimentation,specifically adapted to a particular phase change alloy. In followingsections of the disclosure, the phase change material is referred to asGST, and it will be understood that other types of phase changematerials can be used. A material useful for implementation of a PCRAMdescribed herein is Ge₂Sb₂Te₅.

Other programmable resistive memory materials may be used in otherembodiments of the invention, including N₂ doped GST, Ge_(x)Sb_(y), orother material that uses different crystal phase changes to determineresistance; Pr_(x)Ca_(y)MnO₃, PrSrMnO, ZrOx, or other material that usesan electrical pulse to change the resistance state; TCNQ, PCBM,TCNQ-PCBM, Cu-TCNQ, Ag-TCNQ, C60-TCNQ, TCNQ doped with other metal, orany other polymer material that has bistable or multi-stable resistancestate controlled by an electrical pulse.

The upper electrode element is preferably formed of titanium nitride(TiN) or similar material, such as one or more elements selected fromthe group consisting of Si, Ti, Al, Ta, N, O, and C. It should be notedthat, for purposes of reference only, the direction from the bottomtoward the top of the drawings herein is designated “vertical”, and theside-to-side direction is “lateral” or “horizontal.” Such designationshave no effect on the actual physical orientation of a device, eitherduring fabrication or during use. The bit line 30 is preferably formedfrom aluminum or other conductive material known to the art for use inmetallization.

It is preferred that the thickness (that is, the dimension parallel tothe long axis of the printed page herein) of the phase change element 20be from about 30 nm to about 100 nm, and most preferably about 70 nm.The thickness of the upper electrode element 28 should be from about 30nm to about 120 nm, and most preferably about 100 nm. The width (thatis, the dimension parallel to the short axis of the printed page herein)of the upper electrode element 28 should be from about 20 nm to about100 nm, and most preferably about 50 nm. The width of the vacuum jacketshould be from about 5 nm to about 50 nm, and most preferably about 10nm. Thus, the total width of the phase change element should be fromabout 30 nm to about 100 nm, and most preferably about 70 nm.

The electrode element and phase change element are surrounded by anupper insulation layer 26, preferably formed of the same or similarmaterial as the substrate 12. Between the two insulation layers is abarrier layer 18, formed of SiN or similar material.

The upper insulation layer makes contact with the bit line and with thebarrier layer, but not with the phase change element and upper electrodeelement. Rather, the upper insulation layer is spaced from thoseelements, so that portions of the bit line and barrier layer, togetherwith the spaced-apart portions of the upper insulation layer and thephase change and upper electrode elements define a vacuum jacket 24surrounding the phase change and upper electrode elements. The vacuumjacket is sealed by the bit line electrode, as explained more fullybelow. Because the vacuum jacket is sealed in a vacuum environment, itmaintains a vacuum in its interior.

In operation, current flows through the memory element from plugassembly 14, into the phase change element 20, and out through the upperelectrode 28 and to bit line 30. Of course, the current direction couldbe altered by changes in element geometry, as will be understood bythose in the art. In either event, the phase change material is subjectto joule heating as current flows, as discussed above, resulting in atemperature rise in the center 22 of the GST material. When thetemperature exceeds the level required for phase change, a portion ofthe phase change material changes state. Temperature is not uniformthroughout the phase change element, with changing values of currentdensity producing significant variations. The temperature of the phasechange material determines the effect produced, so the current is chosento produce a temperature sufficient to create the desired result—eitheran amorphous state or a crystalline state—in the GST material. If it isdesired to read the element status, a low current is employed forsensing purposes. The read operation is non-destructive, as the elementtemperature is kept below the threshold for a phase change.

The vacuum jacket 24 functions to contain heat within the phase changeand upper electrode elements, which has several positive effects. First,by preventing the migration of heat away from the phase change and upperelectrode elements, this design reduces the total heat required toeffect phase changes, which in turn reduces the current required foreach SET or RESET operation. At the same time, retaining heat within thephase change and upper electrode elements reduces the heat transferredto the remainder of the memory array, which translates directly intoincreased lifespan for the device. Given the vast numbers of memoryelements within a complete integrated circuit—at least eight billionelements for a 1 GB memory device, for example—it can be appreciatedthat the effects of such a heat reduction will be significant. Thus, theillustrated design leads to reduced current consumption by the memoryelement.

Alternative embodiments of the phase change memory element of thepresent invention are shown in FIGS. 2 a-2 c. These embodiments allgenerally follow the principles set out herein, but the structuraldetails differ in each instance. For example, in FIG. 2 a the upperelectrode member 28 has a width sufficient to extend across the phasechange element 20 and the vacuum jacket 24, sealing the vacuum jacket.Additionally, that embodiment omits the barrier layer altogether. InFIG. 2 b, the upper electrode element has the same structure andfunction as in FIG. 2 a, but the barrier layer 18 is included in thedesign. The embodiment of FIG. 2 c is similar to that of FIG. 2 b,except that the upper electrode element 28 is generally T-shaped, withits upright portion exposed to the vacuum jacket and the crossbarextending across the vacuum jacket and sealing it. Those in the art willunderstand that these alternatives are exemplary and illustrate therange of possibilities inherent in the present invention.

An embodiment of a process for fabricating the memory device of thepresent invention is shown in FIGS. 3 a-3 k. As known in the art, amemory array is preferably formed employing pairs of memory cells, whichstructure is shown here. The process begins with a base structure asseen in FIG. 3 a, which illustrates a structure suitable for theformation of multiple memory cells, as will be shown below. Plugelements 14 a and 14 b extend through the substrate material 12, servingseparate memory elements. Materials for these two elements are describedabove. Word lines 15 a and 15 b extend in a direction perpendicular tothe drawing, connecting a number of memory elements in a manner known inthe art. It is preferred to form the word lines from polysilicon. Commonsource line 17 extends through the middle of the pair of memoryelements, parallel to the word lines.

FIG. 3 b depicts a two-stage deposition which deposits a layer of GSTmaterial 120 atop the dielectric material, followed by a layer ofelectrode material (preferably TiN) 128. It should be noted that thematerials employed in memory element are generally discussed above, andthat discussion will not be repeated here. In the succeeding twodrawings, FIGS. 3 c and 3 d, the structure is prepared for an etchingoperation by first depositing and patterning photoresist material 50 aand 50 b in desired positions. An etching step follows, with resultsshown in FIG. 3 d, in which two phase change memory elements 10 a and 10b are defined. As shown, phase change elements 20 a and 20 b, togetherwith upper electrode elements 28 a and 28 b are formed, preferablyemploying a dry anisotropic etch using a reactive ion etching (RIE),utilizing a chlorine plasma chemistry. An optical emission tool may beused to identify and control the end point of the etch, when thesubstrate layer is encountered.

Here, however, conventional lithographic processing is not sufficient toachieve the small dimensions required, in that the required width of thephase change and upper electrode elements is less than the minimumfeature size achievable by conventional lithography. Thus, thephotoresist is patterned to the smallest possible size in the step shownin FIG. 3 c, followed by a trimming step in FIG. 3 e to produce the etchmasks 50 a and 50 b having the required size. The process for achievingthis result is disclosed in pending patent applications owned by theassignee hereof, such as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/338,285,entitled “Self-Aligned Manufacturing Method, and Manufacturing MethodFor Thin Film Fuse Phase Change Ram”, filed Jan. 24, 2006, whichdocument is incorporated by reference herein. The phase change memoryelements 10 a and 10 b are then further etched, and the photoresiststripped, as shown in FIG. 3 f.

Following the etching, a barrier layer 18 is deposited, composed of SiN,as discussed above. It is preferred to deposit the barrier layeremploying the Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) method,producing a generally conformal layer over the substrate and phasechange memory elements, as shown in FIG. 3 g. That layer is followed bythe deposition of an upper insulation layer 26, composed of material thesame or similar to that of the substrate 12, as seen in FIG. 3 h. Thatlayer is deposited such that it completely covers the phase changememory elements and the barrier layer, as illustrated in FIG. 3 h. Then,the upper insulation layer is subjected to planarization, preferablyemploying chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) to expose the upperelectrode members 28 a and 28 b, as seen in FIG. 3 i.

The vacuum jackets are formed in the next two steps. First, the portionsof the barrier layer 18 lying next to the phase change and upperelectrode elements are etched away, as shown in FIG. 3 j. A wet etch,chosen to selectively etch the barrier layer material, is employed forthis step. For the preferable material, SiN, a phosphoric acid etch isused. Control is exercised to stop the process before an appreciableetching of either the phase change element, the upper electrode or thedielectric material occurs.

Following the etching step, a metallization step deposits bit line 30over the entire structure of FIG. 3 j, as shown in FIG. 3 k. Thisdeposition must suffice to form the vacuum jackets 24 a and 24 b, bysealing the voids remaining after the previous etching step. Thepreferred process for this step is sputtering, so that metal material,preferably aluminum, extends into and seals the cell. Process parametersmust be chosen such that the sputtering does not altogether fill thecells, as will be understood in the art. Bit line 30 spans memoryelements 10 a and 10 b and extends in both directions to other memoryelements, as is known in the art. The fact that this step takes place ina vacuum environment ensures that a vacuum is maintained within thevacuum jacket.

While the present invention is disclosed by reference to the preferredembodiments and examples detailed above, it is to be understood thatthese examples are intended in an illustrative rather than in a limitingsense. It is contemplated that modifications and combinations willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, which modifications andcombinations will be within the spirit of the invention and the scope ofthe following claims.

1. A memory device, comprising: a first electrode element; a phasechange element in contact with the first electrode element; an upperelectrode element in contact with the phase change element, the upperelectrode element and the phase change element arranged in electricalseries; a bit line electrode in contact with the upper electrodeelement; and a dielectric fill layer spaced from the phase changeelement and the upper electrode element to define a vacuum jacketsurrounding the phase change element and the upper electrode element,the vacuum jacket sealed by the bit line electrode.
 2. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the memory material of the phase change elementcomprises a combination of Ge, Sb, and Te.
 3. The memory device of claim1, wherein the phase change cell comprises a combination of two or morematerials from the group of Ge, Sb, Te, Se, In, Ti, Ga, Bi, Sn, Cu, Pd,Pb, Ag, S, and Au.
 4. The memory device of claim 1, wherein the phasechange cell is about 70 nm wide and about 70 nm thick.
 5. The memorydevice of claim 1, wherein the vacuum jacket is about 10 nm thick.
 6. Amemory device, comprising: a first electrode element; a phase changeelement in contact with the first electrode element; an upper electrodeelement in contact with the phase change element, the upper electrodeelement and the phase change element arranged in electrical series; anda dielectric fill layer spaced from the phase change element and theupper electrode element to define a vacuum jacket surrounding the phasechange element, the vacuum jacket sealed by the upper electrode.
 7. Thedevice of claim 6, wherein the memory material of the phase changeelement comprises a combination of Ge, Sb, and Te.
 8. The memory deviceof claim 6, wherein the phase change cell comprises a combination of twoor more materials from the group of Ge, Sb, Te, Se, In, Ti, Ga, Bi, Sn,Cu, Pd, Pb, Ag, S, and Au.
 9. The memory device of claim 6, wherein thephase change cell is about 70 nm wide and about 70 nm thick.
 10. Thememory device of claim 6, wherein the vacuum jacket is about 10 nmthick.
 11. The memory device of claim 6, wherein the upper electrodeelement is generally T-shaped, having an upright portion surrounded bythe vacuum jacket and a crossbar portion sealing the vacuum jacket.